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' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. KELLY, OF BOSTON, MASS, ASSIGNOR TO THE MECHANICAL ORGUINETTECOMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING PERFORATED SHEETS FOR MECHANICAL MUSICALINSTRUMENTS- SPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 223,675,dated January 20, 1880.

Application filed June 14, 1879.

To all whom it may concern .Be it known that I, GEORGE B. KELLY, ofBoston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented a new and useful Process of Manufacturing Perforated Sheets forMechanical Musical Instruments, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to the manufacture of perforated sheets of paper tobe used in mechanical musical instruments as a means of controlling thepassage of wind through the reeds, whereby the several tones are soundedin the proper order and of the desired duration to produce harmony; andit has for its object a reduction in the cost of such sheets byfacilitating the cutting of the perforations.

Heretofore such sheets have been perforated while in a dry state bymeans of tubular cutting-punches of the form and size of the desiredperforations and a mallet manipulated by hand, and in order to reducethe cost of the sheets to the minimum it is very desirable to punch aseries of sheets at the same time; but this has been found impracticablewhen the sheets are dry, on account of the breaking of the punches,caused by the unyielding nature of the cores of paper cut out and forcedinto the punch, the interior of which is necessarily made tapering.

To obviate this difficulty I have conceived and practically carried intoeffect my improvements, which consist in wetting the strips of paper outto a uniform width, placing a series of said wet strips in a pile,punching the several holes desired through the pile while in a wet ordamp state, hanging said sheets in a hot chamber to dry until they haveshrunk to a given width at which it is desired to arrestfurthercontraction, and then placing said sheets between thin boards andsubjecting them to a heavypressure in a press or clamp, to preventfurther contraction until they are completely dry, and to insure theirdrying in a flat or uncockled condition.

It being understood that it is necessary that the perforations in thestrip of paper should be a distance apart in the direction of the widthof the paper exactly corresponding to the positions of the severalreeds, and that the perforations are made when the paper is expanded bybeing wet, the necessity for arresting the contraction of the paper inthe process of drying at just the right time will be apparent.

In carrying out my process, I pass the strips of paper in successionendwise through a bath of water and hang them up to drip till I havestrips enough wet to form a pile, when the first strip wet is placedupona table or bench with one of its edges againsta gage, with all wrinklessmoothed out, and the remaining strips are placed in succession upon thefirst one in the order in which they were wet.

When the desired number of strips have been placed in the pile (usuallyabout a dozen) the perforated pattern, which may be of sheet metal orthick straw-board, preferably the latter, is placed upon the pile, andthe whole is removed from the table where the pile is made up and placedupon another table provided with means for clamping the whole together,which being done, the operator proceeds to punch the desired holes,using punches of different sizes, according to the size of the holes inthe pattern.

When the holes are all punched the several strips in the pile are hungup in a hot room to dry, where they are occasionally inspected and theirwidths measured by the attendant, and as fast as the strips becomecontracted to the desired width theyare removed from the dry-room andplaced in a flat position in piles of four (more or-less) between thinboards, and then placed in a press or clamp, where they are subjected toa heavy pressure for about twelve hours. They are then removed from thepress, repiled, as before, between thin boards, care being taken tosmooth out all irregularities, and they are again placed in the pressand subjected a second time to the same heavy pressure for about thesame length of time, when they are removed, and are found to be dry andready to be used as single tunes or airs, or to be gummed together toform medleys.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States, is-

The process herein set forth for preparing perforated music-sheets frompaper, which conor boards till they are thoroughly dried, subsists inwetting the strips or sheets of paper, stantially as described. 10placing a series of said sheets in a pile, punch- Executed atBoston,Massaehusetts,this 13th ing through the several sheets of thepile at day of May, A. D. 1879.

5 one operation while they are in a Wet or damp GEO. B. KELLY.

state, dryin them in a hot room till they have Witnesses: shrunk to agiven Width, and then subjecting N. O. LOMBARD, them to a heavy pressurebetween flat plates 1 E. A. HEMMENWAY.

